City Hall Hours
as published on the door of city hall on February 5, 2004

Contact information Employed staff Council committee and liaison assignments Elected officials Council meetings and related information Minutes and unofficial meeting summaries

Elections Appointed officials Analysis and announcements Parks and recreation commission Planning and zoning commission Upcoming meetings

    

Know your rights. Great insights into open meeting and public records law written simply and in plain English. The Iowa Attorney General's office has posted several "sunshine" bulletins on the Internet about open meeting and public records laws. Several of these are fascinating and relevant to understanding your rights in relation to local government.

Staff:

	Administrator/Clerk: John Lloyd Appointed January 20, 2004. His position is Gilbert's second attempt to have a city administrator. One was hired in the fall of 1999 but was let go in the spring of 2004 when things didn't work out as anticipated. city hall: 233-2670
	Deputy Clerk: Carolyn Main Began working at city hall during the summer of 2003 as the third of three temporary employees, following the resignation of the clerk in May 2003, while the city deliberated about restaffing city hall. On November 24, 2003, she was appointed to the new, part-time position as deputy clerk. city hall: 233-2670

  Maintenance Supervisor: Gary Steel       Water Plant Superintendent: position vacant
    

Elected Officials:

	Mayor: Yvonne Wannemuehler Works as a research scientist at Iowa State University in the veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine department. In her first, two-year term as the Gilbert mayor. It ends 12/31/2005. Was chair of the planning and zoning commission for some six years, ending in December 2003. city hall: 233-2670  home: 232-7300
	Council Member: Chad Cook Returned in June 2005 from several months of active military duty in Afghanistan. Before he was called up, he had been the head football coach and taught history and psychology in the Gilbert school district for four years. Chad is in his first, four-year term as a council member. It ends 12/31/2007. While Chad was serving in Afghanistan, Teri Gallahan was appointed to be an interim council member. home: 233-8365
photograph currently unavailable	Council Member: Teri Gallahan Is employed as a document center operator for the Iowa State University printing services. She began her first four-year term as a council member on 01/01/2006, and is the only person at the council table who is a native of Gilbert. Previously, she had served nearly a year as a stand-in council member for Chad Cook when he was called to active military duty in Afghanistan. Her term expires on 12/31/2009. home: 233-9347
	Council Member: Lynn Henn Works at Iowa State University as seed production manager for the Committee for Agricultural Development. In his second, four-year term on the Gilbert council. It ends 12/31/2005. home: 232-3462
	Council Member: Bob Jaquis Works at Iowa State University where he provides computer support for the National Soil Tilth Laboratory. In his first, four-year term on the Gilbert council. It ends 12/31/2007. Was mayor for two terms from January 2000 to December 2003. home: 232-4751
	Council Member: Jon Popp Is an engineer with Popp Engineering, Inc. in Ames. Filled a vacancy on the council beginning in June 2002 and is now in his first, four-year term. It ends 12/31/2007. home: 233-4772

Phone numbers and home addresses for local elected officials can also be found on the web site provided by the Story County Auditor. You will need Acrobat software to open the PDF file.
    

Regular City Council Meetings:

City council meetings are usually at 7 p.m. on the first and third Mondays of each month at City Hall on Main Street.

Agendas for meetings are usually posted on the Thursday before a Monday  meeting on the window of the city hall. We will try to find out if there are any written guidelines that citizens can study and follow when they wish to request an item be placed on an agenda. Currently, decisions about the agenda are pretty much under the control of the mayor. Interested persons may also visit city hall in the day or so prior to a meeting and view packets of information that are distributed to council members in preparation for a meeting.

There is a open forum time at the beginning of each meeting where citizens can speak about concerns and other matters that are not on the agenda. However, discussion during that time is limited because the council is not allowed to discuss anything in too much depth nor make any motions on an item that is not on the agenda. For the most part, the council has a history of allowing visitors at meetings to participate in discussion on all agenda items. However, there occasionally is an item of business where public input is not allowed. And on January 20, 2004, the council meeting agenda included the following notice:  

The mayor and city council welcome comments from the public during the appropriate time for public input. Members of the public should stand (if able) and wait to be recognized, state your name and address for the record, and limit remarks to three minutes unless more time is permitted by the presiding officer. Members of the public should refrain from interrupting the council during the council's deliberations.

We are uncomfortable with the unorthodox way this policy was adopted, the lack of clarity in the wording, and the arbitrary way that it is administered. When the paragraph was first posted, we wrote an opinion piece about it and welcome you to read what we said. In addition, we have never seen the measure enforced. So if you choose to speak at a council meeting, and the council attempts to restrict the length of your remarks by invoking the policy, you might challenge the mayor and council and ask why they are enforcing the policy for you when they have not established a pattern of consistently enforcing the rule.

Minutes of meetings are published in the Ames paper approximately 15 days after a meeting but are also available from the city clerk. However, persons interested in knowing what is going on in Gilbert government should not rely solely on the minutes of council meetings for information about what was discussed. The minutes tend to be terse and for the most part include a listing of only the formal actions taken with little description of the conversation that transpired. Also, there are often serious inaccuracies in the minutes. It would be great if more people attended the meetings in order to see and hear the council at work and to provide input. It is commonly the case that few if any visitors attend council meetings, and even when they do attend, few stay for a full meeting. 

The city council tape records each meeting, and the clerk maintains the cassettes for use in writing the minutes and clarifying future questions about meetings. As far as we know, those tapes are part of the public record (unless the a city uses the tapes only for preparing minutes then destroys the tapes). And as far as we know, citizens and other persons may arrange with the clerk to listen to the tapes at city hall. However, in our requests to listen to or have copies of tapes in the summer of 2003, the city was extremely unclear about its policy.

Appointed Officials:

CITY ATTORNEY
  Frank Feilmeyer whose office is in Ames

CITY ENGINEER
  Scott Williams with WHKS Engineering Company whose office is in Ames.

PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION
(terms 5 yrs, not more than 1/3 expire in one year)

  Elaine Cox (Appointed 01-17-00, term expires 01-17-05)

  Dick DeMoss (Appointed 08-03-98, term expired 08-03-03, reappointed)

  Steve Knutson (Reappointed 5-5-2003. Term expires 5-5-08)

  Frank Rydl (Appointed 04-10-03. Term expires 4-10-08)

  Merrill Swanson (Appointed 05-03-99. Term expired 05-03-04, reappointed)

  a new member was appointed in the fall of 2005

  there is one vacancy

BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
(Terms 1 to 5 years)

  Darin St. Germain (Re-appointed 02/03/03, term expires 02/03/06)

  Steve Knutson (Appointed 3/19/01, term expires 3/19/05)

  One vacancy

PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 
(Terms three years overlapping.)

Click here for more information about the Parks and Recreation Commission.

  Sarah Carlson (Reappointed 12-16-02, term expires 12-16-05)

  Tim Day (Appointed 3-3-03, term expires 3-3-06)

  Tyler Holck (Appointed in 2005)

  Jake Kraehling (Appointed 12-1-03, term expires 11-3-06)

  Mark Vandenberg (Appointed 2-17-03, term expires 2-17-06)

  Steve Williams (Appointed in 2005)

  one vacancy

WESTORY FIRE AGENCY REPRESENTATIVE 

  Troy Buchman (Appointed 11/5/01) 

FIRE CHIEF 

  Dave Ballard 

Analysis:

Analysis of city newsletters published between January 2000 and January 2003.

Analysis of number of Planning and Zoning Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission meetings between January 2000 and January 2003.

Gilbert municipal election results for the last decade.